


Goodbye My Love

by An_Old_Yet_Young_Soul



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: F/M, Juudai/OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6133338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Old_Yet_Young_Soul/pseuds/An_Old_Yet_Young_Soul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Juudai's last moments with his wife</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbye My Love

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my creative writing class so I figured that I would put it on here so it would actually get looked at instead of sitting in my desk for the rest of my life.

Jinsei Anderson sighed and looked at her reflection in the ladies' room mirror. Despite her twenty-three years of age, she looked much older. Her once knee-length brown hair was now chopped up to her ears and lined with threads of gray brought on by stress and worry. Her green eyes, once vibrant and alive, were now dull and void of any emotion. Only her pale skin remained the same, refused to darken or lighten in the past few months that had been so hard on her and her husband.

Speaking of him, it was time to be getting back to his room to check on him. Stepping out of the ladies' room into the bright white hallway of Domino Memorial Hospital, the sickening smell of antiseptic greeted her once more, reminding her exactly why she was here and that this wasn't just a bad dream she could wake up from. The way to the intensive care unit was well remembered in the few years she'd been here, making the reality all the more sickening.

As usual, her husband's room was clean, the curtains pulled back to allow the bright December sunlight in, splashing it across the pale blue wall and hard linoleum floor. The room seemed so cheerful, but so did the other rooms here on this hallway.

Jinsei forced her eyes away from the snow outside and turned to face the man lying in the bed, the breathing tube hooked around his ears, feeding the life giving oxygen into his nostrils, the heart monitor still sending out its chilling but welcoming sound, signaling that he was still alive, and the IV tube still inserted into his arm.

Her husband, Juudai Yuki had been lying in that hospital bed for four years now, slowly deteriorating and wasting away. His supple tan skin, which had once been able to retain its color even in the dead of winter, had faded to a sickening yellow and was stretched over his bones. His once beautiful brown eyes, that had looked at everyone with love, warmth, and welcoming were dull and tired. Except for when he looked at Jinsei. It was then the life jumped into his eyes and his smile, which had been gone so many years, returned. It was then that Jinsei recognized him as the man she had married, not the stranger lying in a hospital bed.

"Hey." Juudai said quietly, his once loud voice dulled to a soft whisper.

"Hey." Jinsei answered, sitting in the chair that had been beside his bed.

Juudai's hand rose to touch his wife's face, his slightly calloused fingertips running over the smooth soft flesh of Jinsei's cheek.

"You've been crying again." Juudai stated matter-of-factly. Jinsei opened her mouth to say otherwise but she caught the 'don't-you-dare-lie-to-me' look on his face and touched his hand, the flesh surprisingly cool against her own. "I thought I told you no more of that. I'm going to be okay."

"But Juudai..." Jinsei stopped herself. She knew, deep down, that Juudai was dying. There was nothing she could do about it but wait until it was over and comfort him as best she could. And Juudai knew it too.

"Jinsei, look at me." Juudai said, the authority of his alter ego, Supreme King Haou, lacing his voice and sending shivers up Jinsei's spine, filling her with a weird mix of passion and sadness knowing she would only hear his voice for a bit longer.

Looking into Juudai's eyes, the ones that looked at her with so much love, she could see why their friends had stopped visiting.

When Juudai had first fallen ill all those years ago, all their friends had come to see him and comfort him, their arms loaded with gifts such as flowers and small stuffed animals to keep Juudai company when no one else was there. But then, as Juudai's health slowly deteriorated, their friends stopped coming to visit.

Manjoume was the first to stop showing up. He claimed he was too busy with work.

Asuka was the next to go. She said her career was getting on the road.

Fubuki went next. He claimed that his children needed him. He had no children.

Rei left soon after, saying that hospitals frightened her.

Shou left after her, unable to watch the boy he had come to look up to as a brother wither away and die.

Ryo was the last to go. He had told Jinsei point blank that he couldn't stay and watch her go through the pain losing Juudai would cause.

Finally, only Johan and Jinsei were left. Johan was always there, comforting his little sister and trying to make Juudai, his best friend and brother-in-law, as comfortable as possible for the coming end. But even he found it hard to look at Juudai and see the person he had met when he first started school at Duel Academia.

"Jinsei?" Juudai asked, later that night after the nurses had set up Johan and Jinsei's cots and Johan had finally fallen asleep.

"Yes, Juudai?" Jinsei answered, her head resting on Juudai's chest as she curled into his side. She preferred the hospital bed beside her husband to the hard scratchy cot by the window.

"Do you remember how we met?"

Juudai's cool bony fingers ran through her hair. Jinsei laughed softly. "Of course I remember silly. How could I forget?"

"I was just wondering. Remember how I found you hanging by your dress from a tree branch?"

"Hey that was not my fault. Jesse took all my jeans to wash them and I had to get my teddy bear out of the tree!"

Juudai laughed as best he could. He knew that bear well. Jinsei often called it Bear-chan and the stupid stuffed animal had replaced him on many an occasion. It wasn't uncommon for him to come home late at night to find Jinsei curled around the bear instead of him. Those were normally the nights when Juudai couldn't bear to wake her and had simply crawled into whatever space she had left him and fall asleep.

Jinsei smiled, tracing small hearts on Juudai's chest. "I love you Juudai...I love you so much..." Jinsei fought back her tears. She didn't want to spend another night crying in Juudai's arms. She wanted to smile for him, to have him remember her the way she was when they were happy, not like this.

Juudai lifted Jinsei's head and stroked a tear from her face. "Hey now, none of that." He comforted. "I'm going to be okay."

"B-But Juudai I feel like...like it's my fault that you're sick....I'm the one who wanted to have kids...I talked you into the fertility drugs...."

"Hey now, I'm this way because my genetics suck, not because of those pills. Understand?"

"But-"

Juudai put a finger to Jinsei's lips, silencing her. "Sh. You'll wake him." Juudai glanced at Johan's sleeping form, watching for any sign that the bluenette was awake.

Johan was a deep sleeper but at the first sign that Jinsei was upset he would wake up and tell Jinsei to go to bed. And Juudai wanted to be with his wife as long as possible before his time was up.

"Jinsei, I need to ask you to do something for me." Juudai said, his voice a soft whisper.

"What is it?" Jinsei asked, looking up at him.

Juudai leaned down and kissed his wife as best he could. "One more night."

Jinsei blushed and nodded, pulling the thin hospital blanket over the both of them.

It was the first time they had made love in four years and it would be the last time.

Juudai fell into a comma that night. The nurses, doctors, and Jinsei all tried to revive him but there was nothing they could do. A ginger haired nurse with a pretty heart shaped face patted Jinsei on the shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look, but said nothing.

Days passed then turned into weeks and still Juudai did not wake. Jinsei spent night after night by his bed, holding his hand and telling him about her day and how much she loved him. Johan simply stood by the window, reminiscing with his sister about their days at Duel Academia. He didn't find it fair to try to take Jinsei away from Juudai's bedside. He knew that Juudai's time was drawing near and that every time the heart monitor beeped, Johan knew Juudai was one more closer to the end.

Then, on January 23, their anniversary, Juudai opened his eyes. Jinsei had been half crazed with relief but Juudai had calmed her down.

"Jinsei," he said, his voice below a whisper, soft and weak. "Please...end it..."

"Wh-what?"

"End it...please...sign the papers. I can't do it anymore...Please..."

"Juudai you don't know what you're saying."

"Please Jinsei. I love you and I know you love me. We married young, we spent many happy years together, we were faithful to one another, and I want you to be happy when I'm gone."

"Juudai please...please don't leave me here all alone. I can't do this without you."

"Yes you can, my love. You're strong, smart, beautiful...you'll fall in love again, you'll marry again, and have children just like you always wanted. Please Jinsei. If you love me, if you want me to be happy, you'll let me go."

Tears in her eyes, Jinsei nodded and took the papers out from her jacket pocket. She didn't want to sign them, but it was time to let Juudai go. And so she signed them and turned them over to the nurse who came in less than a second later.

That night, Jinsei lay curled up beside Juudai again, cherishing the last few moments she would have with him.

"I love you Juudai. I love you so much." She kept whispering to him.

Juudai's only answer was "I know."

The next morning, Jinsei held Juudai in her arms as the doctor stood, waiting for her to say he could turn off the machines.

Juudai's head was nestled in the crook of Jinsei's neck, her arms wrapped around his waist and she rocked gently, nodding to the doctor.

"Sing for me." Juudai whispered.

Jinsei took a shaky breath and started to sing.

_"Lips ripe as the berries in June_

_Red the rose, red the rose_

_Skin, pale as the light of the moon_

_Gently as she goes._

_Eyes blue as the sea and the sky_

_Water flows, water flows_

_Heart, burning like fire in the night_

_Gently as she goes_

_La, la la la la la la_

_La la la, la la la_

_La, la la la la la la_

_Gently as she goes ..."_

And with that, as the last note faded, the heart monitor stopped. "I love you Jinsei." Were Juudai's last words, whispered against his wife's neck as he left this world.

Jinsei kept rocking Juudai's body long after it had gone cold, sobbing into his hair and howling with grief. Then, she felt it. A warm hand on her shoulder. Looking to her left she saw her husband, smiling, healthy, and young again. Beside him, the slightly solid yet still transparent figure of her husband's alter ego stood.

"Haou's gonna take care of you, Jinsei. That way, you have something to hold on to." Juudai said, a bright smile on his face as he leaned down to kiss his wife's forehead.

"Will you wait for me?" Jinsei whispered as she watched Juudai's form started to fade.

"Of course I will. Heaven won't be any fun without you." Juudai said, just as he faded completely, his laughter an echo on the breeze.

Haou put a hand to Jinsei's shoulder. "He was a good man. He lived a good life."

Jinsei nodded. Haou was her guardian now, he served her. She put a hand on his, his skin near solid beneath her fingertips. He was here for her now, and she would make the most of it.

Looking down at Juudai's body, she kissed her first three fingertips, like she'd seen Katniss do in _The Hunger Games,_ and pressed then to Juudai's cold lips.

"Goodbye, my love." She whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Hunger Games series or the song "Gently as She Goes"


End file.
